WON'T SAY WHETHER MAN WAS ARMED WHEN SHOT, KILLED BY OFFICER

MARIETTA - Cobb County police are refusing to release information about
whether the man shot to death by an officer on Wednesday was armed, police
officials said Thursday.

Cobb County police spokesman Dana Pierce said the order comes from the Cobb
County District Attorney's Office, which said it did not want to taint a
possible grand jury pool by releasing that information about the case.

Unattributed broadcast reports Thursday evening indicated the man was unarmed.

The incident happened about 3:30 p.m. when four Cobb County police officers
accompanied three officers from the state Board of Pardons and Paroles to
deliver an arrest warrant for 28-year-old Ervin Bernard Maynard at the
Lincoln Hills apartment complex. The complex is located off Terrell Mill
Road near Interstate 75.

Maynard was wanted for violations of his parole.

In a clarification of information released on Wednesday, Pierce said that
Maynard came out on the balcony with his hands in his pockets when police
first arrived on the scene. He refused to take his hands out of his pockets
after repeated requests by officers to show his hands, Pierce said.

He said when Maynard opened the front door, he had his right hand behind
his back and was again told by officers to show his hands.

Pierce said a Cobb County officer fired a single shot after Maynard "made
threatening and aggressive movements toward the officers in the doorway."

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The officer - whose named is not being released pending the completion of
an internal affairs investigation - was placed on paid administrative
leave, per department policy.

Maynard was released on parole in November 2001, after serving six months
of a five-year sentence for two counts of possession of cocaine, according
to state records.

Heather Hedrick, director of public affairs for the board of pardons and
paroles, said Maynard's parole officer issued a warrant for him on
Wednesday because he was unaccounted for on the electronic monitoring
system over the weekend and because his parole officer had specific
information he was using drugs.